Pecanwood

Pecanwood – the name comes from the grove of pecan nut trees found on the property – was the first Jack Nicklaus Signature course in South Africa and it first opened for play in 1998. The well respected Golf Data company actually built the course, moving over one million cubic metres of earth to transform a relatively flat piece of farmland beside the Hartbeespoort Dam into one of the country’s leading residential golf estates.

That’s not the only staggering statistic involved in the construction of Pecanwood where there are 13,000 yards of undersoil drainage lines, 6,000 transplanted trees, five lakes and twelve acres of bunkers (some would say that’s around par for a Nicklaus design!) incorporated into the design. In fact, the landscaped and irrigated area is what would be the norm at a 36-hole golf complex.

The signature hole is the par three 13th, played alongside the dam with water to the front and left and bunkers either side of the green. More water awaits at the next two holes before the round is completed at the right doglegged par four 18th – time to take in some final views of the dam and the surrounding Magaliesberg Mountains before heading to the clubhouse for some well earned refreshment.

In this brief edited extract from the book he co-authored with Jamie Thom entitled South Africa’s Greatest Golf Destinations, Stuart McLean writes:

“The course may look straightforward and relatively benign with its wide fairways, but the bunkers are frustrating in their ability to lure shots that are not perfectly placed. And then golfers have to deal with the artfully shaped Nicklaus greens, with rounded edges and slopes that lead balls back into bunkers, or the collection areas that are an additional feature of the greens complexes.”